


Worth The Risk

by Maeve_of_Winter



Series: Southside Showcase [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Meetings, M/M, Secret Relationship, Street Racing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 09:37:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14952186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_of_Winter/pseuds/Maeve_of_Winter
Summary: Joaquin meets Kevin after he challenges him to a street race. Normally no fan of Northsiders, he can't resist the temptation of getting involved with this one in particular and finds himself becoming embroiled in a clandestine romance with the son of Riverdale's sheriff.





	Worth The Risk

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone reading! If you ever want to chat, here's my [Tumblr](http://maeve-of-winter.tumblr.com/). I love discussion and hearing people's thoughts, so feel free to submit ideas or just talk Riverdale.

Since the time he had learned how to drive, Joaquin never had a problem earning extra cash during the summer. The flat, dusty roads just past the Southside on the outskirts of Riverdale were ideal for racing, and there was never any shortage of rich kids who thought they and their daddy’s Mustang that they snuck out of the garage would be able to handle the mods on his brother’s Skyline. 

But just when he was finishing up for the night and counting his cash, with his fellow Serpents revving their bikes to leave, having chased off the latest losers who were cocky enough they could be contenders (who were from  _ Centerville _ , no less), a dark Chevelle pulled up alongside Joaquin. Carefully tucking away his money, he leaned in the window to see what the driver wanted.

“You here to race?” he drawled, using the opportunity to check the driver out. 

He was pretty cute: lean with evident muscle that his tight deep blue tee clearly showed off, brilliant green eyes, tousled dark hair, and fine, even features with fair skin that looked like it would be smooth to the touch. And since he was driving a Chevelle, of damn things, between the car and the guy, it was the guy’s body that Joaquin would rather get his hands on.

“Clearly,” the guy replied with a challenging smile that nevertheless tugged at something inside of Joaquin. “Unless you’re not up for a grand finale to your night.”

Flicking his eyes at the hood of the Chevelle, Joaquin scoffed. He recognized the car; a Bulldog named Mantle had tried his luck a few times with different Serpents but had easily beaten with each attempt. It wouldn’t take much to smoke this Northsider. The car was more flash than fire, a mistake these rich Northside kids made all too often, but hey, like he was going to tell them. Their loss was his gain, after all.

“You’re on,” Joaquin informed him. “Quarter mile, fifty bucks to the winner.” He signalled Fangs to stay behind to start the race.

Color him surprised: this race turned out to be an actual competition. The driver was good, Joaquin would give him that, a much more skilled racer than Mantle. But at the end of the day, that Chevelle was no match for his Skyline, and it was Joaquin who sped across the finish line first.

“Good race,” he complimented the Northsider when they both climbed out of their cars so the he could hand over Joaquin’s winnings. “Better than I’ve ever seen that Chevelle do before. You borrowed that from your friend Mantle, didn’t you?”

The Northsider confirmed it with a nod. “Yeah, I’ve helped him out of a few tight spots before, so he lets me use his car to race since I usually drive a pickup. Gotta say, this is the first time I’ve ever lost. But rather to a Skyline than anything else.” 

Joaquin grinned. Most Northsiders were dismissive of his Nissan, thinking that since it didn’t look particularly fancy, it must not be worthwhile. But he proved them dead wrong every time by making sure his opponents came in dead last.

“Just for that, you can keep your fifty dollars,” he told him. “On one condition, though.” In a rare show of impulsiveness, giddy from the rush of his win, he decided to try his luck with this Northsider. “You come to dinner with me.”

The Northsider raised his eyebrows even while he grinned. “You’re asking me to dinner? But you don’t even know my name.”

“Fine, then,” Joaquin said confidently, arching an eyebrow. “What’s your name, then?”

“Kevin,” the Northsider replied without missing a beat. “Kevin Keller.”

“ ‘Keller.’ ” Joaquin repeated, sudden dread washing over him. “As in Sheriff Keller?”

“My father,” Kevin replied, his tone seemingly nonchalant, but he was watching Joaquin closely, no doubt waiting to see his reaction. 

For a moment, Joaquin hesitated, wondering exactly what he might be getting into by fooling around with the sheriff’s son. But then he shrugged; after all, what was life without taking a few risks?

“It’s not a problem,” he told Kevin breezily. “I’m Joaquin DeSantos, and listen, I’m starved. Let’s go to that milkshake place or whatever the hell it is that you Northsiders love so much and get a few burgers.”

Excitement flashed across Kevin’s face, and Joaquin couldn’t help but feel a surge of affection for his enthusiasm; he was clearly sincere about wanting to spend time with him. “Why not?”

* * *

After grabbing their food from the diner, Kevin convinced Joaquin to follow him to another lonely country road, and they ended up driving by a bunch of farmland as they wound their way up a long hill. But when they got to the top, Joaquin could see why Kevin wanted to bring him here: they could look for miles out over the land around them, and there seemed to be nothing but fields buzzing with fireflies, their tiny lights filling the distance.

Kevin smiled at him. “Nice, isn’t it?” He slid up onto the extended hood of the Chevelle and began unwrapping his burger. He patted the space beside him. “Here, come on up.”

Warmth rushed through Joaquin at Kevin’s easy smile and invitation, and he wasted no time in joining him. He ended up right beside Kevin, so close that their thighs were touching, but judging by the appreciative gaze Kevin sent Joaquin’s way, he didn’t mind a bit.

They had a nice time together with their impromptu picnic that night, but even as much as he enjoyed himself, Joaquin didn’t let himself get caught up in fantasy. It seemed a little bit too good to be true, being able to pick up the sheriff’s gorgeous kid and have a semi-picnic with him, and the cynical part of Joaquin’s brain wondered throughout the night when reality would kick back in. And it did, just as Kevin was saying goodbye.

“I had fun tonight,” he said, and even though his voice was genuine, there was a sense of hesitation to it. “But since you’re a Serpent and my dad, well, is the sheriff—”

“—it can’t happen,” Joaquin finished for him, disappointment already welling within him. “I get it.”

Kevin sent him a shrewd look. “Not what I was going to say. I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to see me again.”

“Of course I do!” Joaquin said, with such conviction that he surprised both himself and Kevin. But it was true, he realized, his pulse speeding up. Even though he rarely formed attachments to people outside of his family and his gang, somehow, inexplicably, it was important that he get spend time with Kevin again. Hell, he didn’t even just want to see Kevin again, he wanted to see him regularly, for Kevin to be a part of his life.

“If we’re going to keep seeing each other, then we’ll have to be careful,” Kevin cautioned him. “I love my dad, but if he found out, that could mean trouble for you. And I’m not sure if your friends would be thrilled about me, either.”

“They wouldn’t hurt you,” Joaquin said immediately, leaping to the Serpents’ defense. “We look out for each others’ loved ones. But . . .” he trailed off at the thought of how his closest friends would react if they found out that he were dating not just a Northsider, but the sheriff’s kid. “They’d probably have some doubts about me for a while,” he admitted.

“Then we could keep it a secret,” Kevin proposed. “No one else knows. It’s only the two of us.”

“All right,” Joaquin agreed smiling at him. “Just the two of us.”

And then his stomach did a somersault as Kevin reached out for his hand, tentatively at first but gradually more confident, and gave it a squeeze.   

* * *

The problem with a secret relationship was that it severely limited locations for dates. Since they couldn’t be seen together in public and the apartment Joaquin shared with his older brother regularly had Serpents coming and going, that left three main options: isolated spots out in the countryside or forest, places outside of Riverdale, and Kevin’s house, which really was only available to them while his dad was working late.

So when FP announced that the Serpents were being paid to go and stir up trouble at the Twilight Drive-In every night they could, Joaquin realized he finally had a place to go and see Kevin and be there frequently, all without arousing the suspicion of his friends.

However, the job at the Twilight gained mixed reactions from the other Serpents. Sweet Pea relished in it, looking far more excited than he ever did about almost anything else.

“I get to ruin the entire night of whichever Northsiders is stupid enough to come around,” he crowed. “God, life is good.”

Toni, however, was less than pleased about their assignment. “I have homework to do, and I want to complete all of the extra credit summer reading reports.”

“Hey, come on.” Fangs looped an arm around one of her shoulders and one of Joaquin’s. “What’s extra credit when you get to spend extra time with us?”

“Extra time with us being a pain in the ass of a bunch of Northsiders,” Sweet Pea said gleefully. “And it’s about damn time they get off our turf, anyway.”

“Wow, maybe I should just write down all of our exploits at the drive-in and hand that,” Toni deadpanned. “Who needs book reports when you can just write memoirs of what you and your fellow Serpents did over the summer?”

“Just do your homework during the day,” Joaquin told her, trying to keep his tone casual and disguise the exuberance he was feeling. Finally, this was it: under the cover of night, it would be easy to spend some time with Kevin without being worried about being seen together. Still, a part of him desperately wished he could simply invite Kevin along openly and have him join them in their task.

Toni did not think much of his proposed solution. “What, do you mean in between my two jobs?” She retorted, but nevertheless, she met up with the rest of them later that night for the show.

Somehow, Sweet Pea managed to convince Hog Eye to let him borrow one of the beater pickups that sat in the back lot of the Wyrm, and, in his enthusiasm to cause a headache for the Northside, collected a bunch of folding chairs which he carted over to the drive-in for the night. The rest of them merely drove their bikes—after all, the entire point was to be recognized as Serpents, the Southside delinquents out to menace the drive-in and its patrons.

But just as the film was about to start and the others were pumping themselves up for an inevitable confrontation with some Northsiders, Joaquin slipped away.

“Be back in a few minutes,” he muttered to Toni, sidling past Fangs and Sweet Pea, who were jeering at a few Bulldogs walking by.

As he walked past the rest of the Serpents, he thought he felt Toni’s gaze linger on him for longer than necessary, as if she found his behavior unusual, but he told himself that was just paranoia. Forcing the thought out of his mind, he concentrated on weaving his way between between the surrounding cars that their very presence was intended to diminish.

Doing his best to make sure he wasn’t noticed by anyone, Joaquin made his way to a shadowy corner behind a supply shed at the far end of the drive-in’s property, right up against the chain-link fence. Branches from the tree limbs on the other side of the fence extended overhead, blocking out any kind of light, and throwing the spot into further gloom. And there he found the person he’d been going to meet, waiting for him, hidden away in the dark.

“Heya, preppie,” he said, breaking into a wide grin.

“Joaquin,” Kevin said, and even in the dim light, his smile was evident. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m happy to see you, too,” Joaquin said, nuzzling his face against Kevin’s neck and then tugging him to the ground so they could lie down in the cool grass together.

Kevin ran his hands through Joaquin’s hair, leaving his scalp tingling, and Joaquin pulled Kevin closer, kissing him for all he was worth. For several minutes, they continued like that, until taking a moment to rest, lying in each other’s arms.

“How long until you’re missed?” Kevin asked him.

Joaquin scowled. “Not long enough.” As much as he wanted to be with Kevin, he was already  beginning to get tired of keeping their romance a secret. Holding Kevin close, he was struck by another futile wish he could just take Kevin out with him, show him off, and see people and be seen without ever having to worry.

But he knew that they couldn’t have, that it was safer for them to hide. Still, it nettled him

In response, Kevin gave his cheek a gentle caress. “Well, we’ll just have to make the most of our time together then, won’t we?”

A surge of delight spread through Joaquin at the touch, overwhelming his annoyance, and he tightened his grip on Kevin. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess we will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone reading! If you ever want to chat, here's my [Tumblr](http://maeve-of-winter.tumblr.com/). I love discussion and hearing people's thoughts, so feel free to submit ideas or just talk Riverdale.


End file.
